Collaborative effort bringing school to Linda Vista

Thrive Public Schools CEO Nicole Assisi speaks at the June 23 groundbreaking of her nonprofit's fourth school, scheduled to open in August 2018 in Linda Vista.

Thrive Public Schools CEO Nicole Assisi speaks at the June 23 groundbreaking of her nonprofit's fourth school, scheduled to open in August 2018 in Linda Vista. (Courtesy Nicole Assissi)

Gary Warth

A new charter school is expected to open in Linda Vista in about a year thanks to a collaborative effort and federal program that encourages businesses to invest in distressed areas.

The 35,000-square-foot facility will be the fourth San Diego campus for Thrive Schools and will open in about 12 months at the former site of Bayside Community Center at 6882 Linda Vista Road.

The school will have 30 learning spaces, a technology lab, an outdoor classroom, learning lounges, collaborative student offices and community rooms. The campus will be large enough for 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, serving about 250 additional families.

“Establishing a school in Linda Vista has been a top priority since our founding in 2014,” said Nicole Assisi, CEO of Thrive Public Schools.

The area surrounding Bayside Community Center has been identified as one of the six most-distressed blocks in San Diego, which Assisi said made it a good fit for Thrive School’s mission.

As she explained, the nonprofit charter school is focused on bringing free, high-quality educational opportunities to underserved areas to help students there become better prepared for college and careers.

“We’re really bringing families back to the community," she said. “For a long time, families have left severely distressed neighborhoods to get their children’s education elsewhere.”

The three Thrive School campuses serve close to 700 students in City Heights, Chollas and Rolando. Assisi said students come from 37 different ZIP codes, and more than half the families live at or below the poverty line.

Assisi said she was looking at opening a school in Linda Vista when she met Bayside Community Center Executive Director Corey Pahanish and others at the facility.

“According to them, Bayside was kind of at the end of their rope in finances and they were looking at selling the lot,” she said. “I said, ‘Maybe not. What if Bayside sold their site to Thrive, and we built something on there that included a community center?’”

The community center had been at the site for about 60 years and provided social services and community support for children and the elderly. The center operated health services, a food pantry, after-school programs and a garden.

The idea seemed like a win-win situation, and Assisi said it became even more viable with the help of Civic San Diego, a city-owned nonprofit charged with stimulating public-private partnerships, encouraging economic development and enhancing the quality of life in underserved neighborhoods.

The project’s cost became more affordable for Thrive through the federal New Markets Tax Credit Program, which gives tax credits to for-profit businesses that are helping revitalize low-income communities.

Civic San Diego was eligible for the program and was allowed to sell the tax credits to whoever was making the investment. In this case, the credits were sold to the bank lending money to Thrive to buy the site.

“This is one of the many examples of how we are improving quality of life in some of San Diego’s most underserved communities,” said Civic San Diego President Reese Jarrett. “We are especially proud to be collaborating with Thrive Public Schools and Bayside Community Center in a neighborhood that is so very deserving of this resource.”

To date, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has given Civic San Diego four allocations of New Markets Tax Credit totaling $133 million, which it has used to fund several projects in low-income communities across San Diego.

Construction of the charter school kicked off with a ground-breaking ceremony in June. Bayside Community Center has temporarily moved into a storefront that once was a 99 Cent store across the street.

“In spite of significant financial challenges throughout the past decade, Bayside has remained committed to its mission,” Pahanish said. “With the support of institutions such as the University of San Diego, generous donors and key stakeholders, Bayside has thrived, and is excited about the opportunities we see ahead.

"We are very optimistic about our future and the future of Linda Vista," he continued. "We believe our new partnership with Thrive will lead to the return of former Bayside clients and friends who wish to be a part of this historic transformation.”

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